UCF police deem threat made against campus as not credible

Man claimed to have weapons on campus, police say

ORLANDO, Fla. - The University of Central Florida Police Department issued an alert after a man called in a threat claiming to be on campus with weapons around 5 p.m. Tuesday, department officials said.

Police said the man, who sounded as if he were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, also made additional threats. The phone call lasted about two minutes, UCF police Deputy Chief Carl Metzger said.

More News Headlines

"Out of an abundance of caution, police treated the threat as credible and responded as such. While we will continue to investigate the incident, we do not believe there to be any imminent threat to campus," UCF Police Department spokeswoman Courtney Gilmartin wrote in a news release.

Metzger reiterated during a news conference shortly before 7:30 p.m. that the man's claims were not credible, which is why campus operations remained normal through the evening.

"We didn't believe the threat was real and we don't believe the threat is real," Metzger said.

Light Up UCF and an on-campus basketball game went on as scheduled Tuesday evening, with the addition of extra officers.

Officials said they are hopeful that an arrest will be made in this case.

The phoned-in threat came hours after a 19-year-old student was found dead in her on-campus dorm room. Although her cause of death has not been determined, police said foul play was not suspected and there was no threat to the community.

The two incidents are not related, police said.

#UCFAlert Update: UCFPD received a call shortly after 5PM Tuesday from a man claiming to be on campus with weapons. He made additional threatening remarks.